Bill Mumy on the promise of a sci-fi future

Mumy said we should already be up there in space.

Have you ever sat around wondering why we don't have flying cars yet? Sure, we've got iPhones, and those are great, but what about the robot butlers we were all promised by The Jetsons? Aren't we supposed to be walking around on giant conveyor belt streets in the sky? Sure, space is the final frontier, but who knew "final" was so far away? Don't you think we should've figured out if there were aliens by now?

The good news is you're not alone in wondering if we're alone, cosmically. A lot of people share the sentiment that there should be more futuristic stuff going on in the world. After all, what is the underwhelming present if not the hopeful past's dazzling future?

While we may not yet have colonized the stars, some experts say we could have, if we really wanted to. Take, for example, bona fide science fiction superstar Bill Mumy. Mumy will be familiar to fans of classic TV as Will Robinson on Lost in Space

"President Kennedy inspired this country to put a man on the moon... and we did it," said Mumy. "Stretching that concept a bit to assume that we could send a group of people to another world within 30 some years was not too far-fetched."

Sure Lost in Space and Star Trek are works of science fiction, but they're rooted in very real aspirations. According to Mumy, if we'd just kept our focus up like we had it in the '60s, space travel could've been a lot closer.

"If we had continued to finance the space program with the energy and enthusiasm we did in the '60s, we certainly could have accomplished that by now."

So, when next you gaze upon the stars above, just know... We probably could've been there by now if we'd just been more disciplined about it.

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9 Comments

Spaceseed 11 months ago
New, young voters wanted more money spent on Social programs, less on NASA. Obama ended the manned space program. Space travel is expensive and most countries consider it a waste of time.
Spaceseed 7 months ago
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Snickers 12 months ago
Have to agree with Mumy, Had we continued with manned space exploration we would have had a base on the moon and on our way to Mars by now.
CaptainDunsel 12 months ago
"Have you ever sat around wondering why we don't have flying cars yet?"

Have you ever been in a shopping mall parking lot at Christmas? I for one do NOT want to see what would happen with people operating their vehicles in three dimensions!
Snickers CaptainDunsel 12 months ago
Just wondering what MeTV means by we would be walking on giant conveyor belts? If it's a moving conveyor belt why would we be walking?
CaptainDunsel Snickers 12 months ago
I don't know. Maybe impatience? We could always ask the people who walk on the giant conveyor belts at airports. (If we can keep up with them, of course.)
Spaceseed CaptainDunsel 11 months ago
They exist. Not free.
Bapa1 12 months ago
If you watch Star Trek, the original series, when they discuss a historical space fact, we were like landing on Mars in the 20th century.
Spaceseed Bapa1 11 months ago
Who would have guessed then people would lose interest.
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